Friday, May 21, 2010

Night Ride with the Total Bike crew: fast paced

Our ride was only 26 km but the hill climbs, people, and sights made it worthy of a few hours of riding. Last night's São Paulo bike ride was a breath of fresh air, if not a bit randomly disorganized. We followed the leader Luis who fits the bicycle rider profile: a little crazy.

A tour is what it felt most like as we passed many cozy older neighborhoods with cobble stoned streets that haven't been worked on in decades reminding me of the history the city really holds. We toured mostly "Centro", the center of the city, although I couldn't figure out where we were a quarter of the time.

Halfway through, many were getting frustrated with what felt like a mixed up, mess of an unplanned course- we found our destination- an alleyway that was completely saturated with graffiti art. Up and down the cobblestones it was our very own private museum. Lit by only the white and flashing red lights of our bicycles and the occasional yellow dim glow of the streets surrounding; we saw incredible uncontaminated art by São Paulos street artists. It was a sanctuary that gave us another deeper more personal look into the passion and talent that the Paulistanos hold. One of my new bike friends said, Ï've lived my whole life here and I have never seen this before- it is a very good day". And it was.

New bike update: The new Surly Steamroller is just what it was described as - a no frills workhorse- and I like it that way.